This is my review of the Victorinox Rover, a keychain knife with some cool features. This one has emerald green translucent handles. The model number is 73605. Cost is about $10. Here are the specifications and a few initial impressions...
Handle Specifications and Impressions: The Rover is 2.25" closed (the size of a Victorinox Classic). It has translucent emerald green scales, with the one on the left side having the Victorinox shield and cross logo in silver. This side holds the 1.5" plastic toothpick. The right side is blank, and holds the 1.6" stainless tweezers. There is a keychain attachment with a small (.3") keyring. This knife is a tad heavier than the Classic, but still doesn't weigh much. It's a very useful design for the tools you get, and all of them are easy to use with the handle length provided. The first thing I did was sling it on my keychain for a week to try it out. The toothpick and tweezers were a concern because it seemed like they were too loose, but they never budged. Everything else was as perfect as I expected from Victorinox.
Blade Specifications and Impressions: The blade on the Rover is a wharncliffe point instead of the regular pen blade. It's 4.25" long with a 1" cutting edge. There's a nail nick on the side. It has no markings on it, which surprised me. Steel is Victorinox's standard stainless. It came extremely sharp, and is billed as an "Emergency Blade". I use it a lot for opening letters and picking splinters. I'm very happy to find a wharncliffe blade in a knife this small. It came in handy for everything I tried, down to some light whittling. The blade needed sharpening only once, very lightly, after whittling oak.
Fingernail Tool Specifications and Impressions: Right beside the blade is a fingernail file with a slight point for cleaning your nails. It's 1.6" long and has about 1.4" of filing surface. I've not used this tool very extensively, although the file comes in handy for taking the burr off your fingernails and smoothing things. Any things. The pointed tip is useless to me so far, as I have large fingers with very small gaps between the fingers and the nails, so I use the toothpick for cleaning my fingernails.
Cap Tool Thingy: This tool is mounted on the back side of the knife, and is twice as thick as the other tools. It's 1.4" long. It features a wire stripper, bottle opener, and small flathead screwdriver. Of all the tools on this knife, I use this one the most. The screwdriver has proven to be very invaluable, and this can even be used for light prying. I used the screwdriver to start paint cans, and the bottle opener along with a prybar motion to open them. There was no damage to the tool. I used the wire stripper only once, and it was to put a notch in a stick for fire-making. I imagine it would be good for stripping wire too, since that's it's intended purpose.
It's not the most exciting knife, or the most innovative Swiss Army Knife, but the Rover is a nice tool to keep on your keychain. They can be had for ten bucks, or around $5 if you really shop around. Check it out at... http://www.bladematrix.tv/browseproducts/VN73605-Victorinox-Rover.-2-1-4--close.HTML
Handle Specifications and Impressions: The Rover is 2.25" closed (the size of a Victorinox Classic). It has translucent emerald green scales, with the one on the left side having the Victorinox shield and cross logo in silver. This side holds the 1.5" plastic toothpick. The right side is blank, and holds the 1.6" stainless tweezers. There is a keychain attachment with a small (.3") keyring. This knife is a tad heavier than the Classic, but still doesn't weigh much. It's a very useful design for the tools you get, and all of them are easy to use with the handle length provided. The first thing I did was sling it on my keychain for a week to try it out. The toothpick and tweezers were a concern because it seemed like they were too loose, but they never budged. Everything else was as perfect as I expected from Victorinox.
Blade Specifications and Impressions: The blade on the Rover is a wharncliffe point instead of the regular pen blade. It's 4.25" long with a 1" cutting edge. There's a nail nick on the side. It has no markings on it, which surprised me. Steel is Victorinox's standard stainless. It came extremely sharp, and is billed as an "Emergency Blade". I use it a lot for opening letters and picking splinters. I'm very happy to find a wharncliffe blade in a knife this small. It came in handy for everything I tried, down to some light whittling. The blade needed sharpening only once, very lightly, after whittling oak.
Fingernail Tool Specifications and Impressions: Right beside the blade is a fingernail file with a slight point for cleaning your nails. It's 1.6" long and has about 1.4" of filing surface. I've not used this tool very extensively, although the file comes in handy for taking the burr off your fingernails and smoothing things. Any things. The pointed tip is useless to me so far, as I have large fingers with very small gaps between the fingers and the nails, so I use the toothpick for cleaning my fingernails.
Cap Tool Thingy: This tool is mounted on the back side of the knife, and is twice as thick as the other tools. It's 1.4" long. It features a wire stripper, bottle opener, and small flathead screwdriver. Of all the tools on this knife, I use this one the most. The screwdriver has proven to be very invaluable, and this can even be used for light prying. I used the screwdriver to start paint cans, and the bottle opener along with a prybar motion to open them. There was no damage to the tool. I used the wire stripper only once, and it was to put a notch in a stick for fire-making. I imagine it would be good for stripping wire too, since that's it's intended purpose.
It's not the most exciting knife, or the most innovative Swiss Army Knife, but the Rover is a nice tool to keep on your keychain. They can be had for ten bucks, or around $5 if you really shop around. Check it out at... http://www.bladematrix.tv/browseproducts/VN73605-Victorinox-Rover.-2-1-4--close.HTML
